The best music videos ever

All right, first of all sorry I've been not so much with the blogging. But there's at least two other Furdells who could be taking up my slack. So, I'm just saying, I'm not the only jerk.

OK, here's another one of those ridiculous lists you can help me with. I've decided that the best music videos of all fit the following criteria:

1. The song is from a movie soundtrack; and


2. one or more actors from the movie appear in the video. Preferably in character.

I don't mean like they used footage from the film, I mean the actor or actors actually had to shoot special footage for the music video. And it doesn't count if the actor is the musician (like if Will Smith does a song for his own movie, for example).

Here are the ones I've come up with. Starting with the most obvious, "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio from the god-awful Dangerous Minds, prominently featuring Michelle Pfeiffer, in a speaking role no less.

Maybe it's because that video's from the mid-90s, but I generally expect the actor(s) not to show up until the very end of the video, after we've seen a lot of scenes from the movie. I don't recommend that you skip to the end of John Parr's "Man In Motion" -- if you do, you won't get to see the scenes from St. Elmo's Fire, which are hilarious. A character in this movie tries to kill herself by sitting in front of an open window, and this is seen by her friends as a credible suicide attempt. But if you just want to see John Parr interact with the cast of the film, you can fast forward to the last minute.

That's like Julia's favorite movie, by the way. Moving on, here's the music video that I would say is both the cheesiest ever, and the best ever: "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship, from the motion picture Mannequin. The real stars here are the lead singers, who ham it up in an un-self-conscious way that nobody can in a post-9/11 world. There's a brief cameo in the end by your favorite Mannequin character, Hollywood Montrose.

Here's one I was fond of as a kid: "When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Get Going" by Billy Ocean, from Jewel of the Nile. Michael Douglas, the super-sexy Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito just look like they're having so much fun as Billy Ocean's backup singers.

YouTube is having a two-for-one special on themes from movies about bustin' ghosts. These are interesting, because they also include a ton of cameos by celebrities who weren't even in the movie. The first one, "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr. from the eponymous film, has about a dozen unrelated actors who help out with the chorus (Chevy Chase, John Candy, Teri Garr, Carly Simon, Jeffrey Tambor, and even maybe-senator Al Franken, to name a few), and all four Ghostbusters show up in the end. The second song is the completely hilarious "On Our Own" by godfather of soul Bobby Brown, from the terrible Ghostbusters II. It squeaks in a Rick Moranis cameo early, and then manages to include Donald Trump, Iman, Christopher Reeve on a bicycle, Jane Curtin for some reason, and the chick from The Man With One Red Shoe, among others.

I'm so glad I get to include the bizarre 2-part epic that is "Goonies 'R' Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper. The plot is so complicated that it requires narration and frequent subtitles. When Cyndi and the Goonies get kidnapped by pirates, Cyndi breaks the fourth wall and asks Goonies writer/executive producer Steven Spielberg for a tip on what to do. (He has no ideas.) And, André the Giant shows up for some reason.

I admit it: we're now at the point where I can't think of any more off the top of my head, so I'm having to guess. I'm batting 1000 so far though. Here's El DeBarge's "Who's Johnny" from Short Circuit. Yep, sure enough this one has appearances by both Ally Sheedy, and a cardboard standup of Steve Guttenberg, who I guess was busy with Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol that day. El takes the witness stand in a trial against Ally and Cardboard Steve, but the bad news is that footage from the film is admissible as evidence. Luckily everyone in the courtroom is in love with Ally Sheedy.

OK, I specifically said it doesn't count if Will Smith does the song for his own movie. But I'd be remiss if I excluded James's favorite song, "Wild Wild West", from James's favorite movie. It prominently features Salma Hayek (worth, as always, triple the price of admission) and, in a casting move only slightly less distracting than Cardboard Steve Guttenberg, we have someone who is clearly not Kenneth Branagh playing the back of Kenneth Branagh's head.

So those are the ones I can think of. But I feel like there's another lurking on the edges of my brain. Help me out by naming some more music videos in the comment section...won't you?